Hi
Allow me to introduce myself; my name is Eric. I am 32 years old and have been working as a software developer in Cape Town, one of the 2 capital cities in South Africa, for many years. I have recently married Taryn; a beautiful, talented and inspiring woman that is in the final phase of completing her doctorate degree in Molecular and Cell Biology. (As someone who stopped studying biology in grade nine, I'm very impressed with this, and I'm grateful that we don't follow the Xhosa tradition of lobola that would require me to pay the price of many cows for the privilege to marry such a well educated woman.)
I have been running the rat race for the last 8 years. Recently I have started feeling some dissatisfaction with my job. Although I enjoy software development, I find that coding what other people want me to code is so much less rewarding than coding what I want to code. Still, for some time now I've stuck it out, working for a software company that provided services to banks and large investment companies. The money was... ok, but nothing I did really seemed to significantly affect anyone's life. It has come as a real surprise to me that this is actually really important to me. That's right, as it turns out, I want to feel like what I'm doing is making a personal difference to someone's life.
So at the end of last year, on a whim, Taryn and I decided to attempt to change the pace of our lives, so we applied to participate in the JET programme. Now my wife and I are getting ready to leave our comfortable flat on the 16th floor of a block of flats in the CBD of Cape Town, to go teach English in what will hopefully be a rural town in Japan.
In terms of my world view, I'm very interested in philosophy, and in other people's world views; but I'm completely disinterested in dogma. I see myself as a very rational person and value the scientific method. Generally I don't attribute much weight to things that cannot be proven; which will make what follows particularly paradoxical.
For me living in Japan is the realization of a big dream; perhaps even the dream. I have never been to Japan before; in fact, I know only one Japanese person. What I do seem to know in a mystically profound way, is that I need to go there, and I need to live there, not just stay for a couple of weeks. It's almost as if I've been born with a destiny that requires me to go to Japan to discover something that I've never seen. It's completely irrational, and contrary to my usual painfully analytical grain.
Perhaps there is something to past lives... how else can I explain my expectation that when I go to Japan I will find something misplaced, that I've never seen, and when I find it, I'll remember it.
Okay okay, how could you possibly claim to be interested in philosophy then completely dismiss dogma? And not "attribute[ing]... weight to things that cannot be proven"? Dude, how philosophical minded can you be with such narrow margins?
ReplyDeleteHi Me - Girl. Thank you for taking the time to respond to my blog, although I'm a bit surprised as I seem to have irritated you somehow. Nonetheless I will try and respond in a way that honours your questions.
ReplyDeleteTo me, the difference between Dogma and Philosophy is that Dogma tells one what to do, and Philosophy tells me why you do it. Therefore, for example, I would love to discover what it is about my post that irritated you, however if you told me what not to do I may ignore your advice as this is my portal for self-expression.
As for your suggestion that "attributing weight to things that cannot be proven" is not philosophical, I must disagree as my understanding of philosophy is that it is the application of logic and reason to abstract thought. Therefore, philosophy must focus on the exploration of what can be proved.
In closing, I invite you to subscribe to my adventure to Japan. I hope this will be a portal of beautiful discoveries... and we all need more beauty in our lives.
Uh... dude. You read way too much into that. I just meant that you seem to have boundaries for how far your "philosophical" whatchamacallit goes.
ReplyDeleteI did not in any way mean to come across as hostile.
[Ps. You do know that I'm Ruth (from the SA JET page)... right?]
Hi Me - Girl. I didn't know it was you in the beginning, however I deduced as much after writing my reply. As you can see, I wasn't kidding when I said I can be painfully analytical sometimes ;).
DeleteI see that now. In a crystal kind of way. XD
DeleteHi Eric, a great move in your life!
ReplyDeleteI think the thought when you writing this blog is very understandable. It will be quite different and maybe a bit of difficult (at least in the beginning) when suddenly start doing another job in such a far-away place. But, as long as you think the what you are going to do is meaningful, and that where you are going to stay is attractive, and same as Taryn does, then it is definitely a worth to try it. And most of all, it is going to the other side of the world, which will greatly widen your view of the world, and even the view of your philosophy.
Admire your courage and all the best to you and Taryn in Japan.
Thanks a lot Li! :D
DeleteI can't believe how quickly time has flown. I can't believe it's almost time to leave! Wow. It's crazy man.
Maybe one day we'll meet somewhere on that side of the world :D.